Those of you who dig all the individual artisanal schtick will value this quote :

Quote:

“Let’s go up here,” Heidi said as she turned down another little alleyway and headed for an old elevator. I didn’t know where she was going since I didn’t see any signs but she soon had me in the upstairs shop of Andreas Kirchtag, a Schirmerzeuger, or umbrella maker. Kirchtag’s family has been hand-making umbrellas for 100 years and it’s an art that’s all but disappeared elsewhere... Standing in the tiny shop crammed with umbrella parts everywhere, I was amazed that Kirchtag even makes the wooden handles by hand, carving them out of numerous different woods he imports. He sells 350+ handmade umbrellas every year, and repairs other customer’s favorites, in his shop down on street level.

No idea if the ones sold elsewhere are made the same way, or some kind of branding deal.

Ok, so here is the story. I ordered one of these guys in February. They said it was take approximately 2 weeks to make and then they would ship. About 3-4 weeks went by and they said they shipped it on March 8 and sometimes with customs and such it can take 4-6 weeks. Six weeks later I informed them I still hadn't received it and I asked if they had a tracking number. They sent me the tracking number and it said it was at a sorting facility and had been marked unclaimed and was being sent back to Germany. WTF!?!? I called the post office, they said there is nothing they can do and they don't give phone numbers to sorting facilities so I can't even tell them to reship it. I filed an investigation on the post office website and they said there is nothing they can do and only the shipper can launch a formal investigation, but by that time it will already be back in Germany. I emailed Kirchtag to let them know, but I fear the issue will be lost in translation and they are just going to mysteriously receive this unopened umbrella package that is already paid for. I'm royally pissed at the post office and I don't know what to do.

Side story, I sold an old umbrella, which this was to replace. I shipped it about 3-4 miles away and it never got there. There are two constants here, umbrellas and the post office. This is what I get for opening them up inside before I walk out the door...

I bought some cloth a few months ago. For the first time ever it was stopped by customs. The additional fee was almost the price of the cloth. After much back and forth, I figured I had no choice but to pay it. When I got the invoice, it turned out that some tiny % of the bill was for duties and the rest was a massive fee to some bonded warehose for "storage," i.e., ransom.

There are two constants here, umbrellas and the post office. This is what I get for opening them up inside before I walk out the door...

You thought you'd make a big splash, but in the end all your hopes just washed away.

Still, dry up and just go with the flow from now on.

Originally Posted by Manton

I bought some cloth a few months ago. For the first time ever it was stopped by customs. The additional fee was almost the price of the cloth. After much back and forth, I figured I had no choice but to pay it. When I got the invoice, it turned out that some tiny % of the bill was for duties and the rest was a massive fee to some bonded warehose for "storage," i.e., ransom.

We live in corrupt times.

In my - admittedly limited & small-scale - experience, couriers are the worst. Royal Mail (with USPS at the other end) can sometimes be delayed by customs for a brief but unpredictable duration, but it gets through in the end. With couriers, they not only charge more for shipping, but have an annoying tendency to be more meticulous in terms of charging duties (and incorrectly), and then charging for storage. I'm sure it's a good revenue stream...

In my - admittedly limited & small-scale - experience, couriers are the worst. Royal Mail (with USPS at the other end) can sometimes be delayed by customs for a brief but unpredictable duration, but it gets through in the end. With couriers, they not only charge more for shipping, but have an annoying tendency to be more meticulous in terms of charging duties (and incorrectly), and then charging for storage. I'm sure it's a good revenue stream...

+1. I bought a watch from overseas quite a few years ago and it was shipped via FedEx (I think).

Anyway, it was over the customs limit for Australia and so I got a call from FedEx to let me know that I had a pay a customs fee.

Similar to your experience, when I finally received the watch and looked at the invoice, more than half of the additional cost - which was considerable - was taken up by a "processing fee" levied by the courier company for forwarding on my customs fee payment to the government!